Rainbow Trout

During the past several years, the number of junior hunters in the state has decreased steadily, and this year, in an attempt to offset the trend, the Department of Natural Resources has designated Saturday as a statewide, one-day deer hunt for qualified junior hunters."

The Chesapeake Bay Boat Show won't roll into the convention center until the second week of January, but show organizers said last week that they hope to concentrate on introducing families to boating.Show officials said that displays of 16- to 18-foot fishing, day and skiing boats may be prominently placed near the main entrance, along with displays that will help first-time buyers through the steps of buying, operating and maintaining a boat.Other areas of the show, of course, will continue to display and sell full lines of boats of all sizes and equipment and accessories.

MILK & HONEY BISTRO 1777 Reisterstown Road. Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays; 2 hours after sundown Saturday to 1:30 a.m. Sunday. (410) 486-4344. If vegetarian fast foods translate to you as paltry meals only a rabbit can appreciate, you haven't been to Milk & Honey.There's no meat to be had here, but you won't miss it. This is a kosher vegetarian, dairy and fish place, serving up as hearty or as light a meal as suits you. Soups, sandwiches, salads, quiches, baked fish, pancakes, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese -- quite a variety.

The effects of the devastating winter and spring floods of 1996 are still evident in the Potomac River and its tributaries, especially in the Monocacy and Savage rivers, where 1996-year classes of sport fish are greatly diminished or missing.Department of Natural Resources trout population studies in the tailwater area below Savage River Dam in Garrett County showed adult wild brown and brook trout numbers declined from 1996 estimates "mainly due to the absence of the 1996 class."Even though the 1996 floods appear to have wiped out a year class, the results of the population survey found numbers and densities of wild trout "were still high at 50 pounds/acre and 507 trout/mile."

The fifth annual Youth Fishing Rodeo will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Fort Meade's Burba Lake. Registration for the free competition begins at 9 a.m. at the Burba Park cottage, 4424 McKay St. The competition will be divided into age categories of 3 to 6, 7 to 11 and 12 to 16, with children given one hour to catch fish. The longest fish wins. The state Department of Natural Resources is co-sponsor of the rodeo, with Fort Meade's Outdoor Recreation Office and Fort Meade Rod and Gun Club.

Loch Raven Reservoir -- Loch Raven Fishing Center's Don Griswold reports more white perch and more bass, while warm temperatures remain. Anglers are catching bass in the early morning, while the perch are available all day. Spinner hooks with night crawlers are the most effective baits. Gunpowder River -- Backwater Angler's Theaux LeGardeur reports "gin clear" water in the river, with temperatures in the low 60s. Brown trout and Rainbow trout were available for anglers below the Prettyboy Reservoir.

If you don't golf at Hobbit's Glen - or know somebody who does - you might not have heard of Coho Grill. The restaurant doesn't have a lot of visibility - it's at the end of Willow Bottom Drive, the road leading to the semiprivate golf course. So its customers tend to be golfers and people who have learned about the 10-year-old restaurant through word of mouth. Once they dine at Coho, they tend to come back. The food is fresh and flavorful and the atmosphere pleasant. However, the service isn't always up to par. During a recent lunch, our waiter kept disappearing.

ACCIDENT -- Mark Harmon remembers the first hint of something funny with the trout at the state's Bear Creek hatchery in Western Maryland. The fish were swimming in circles. "You ever see a puppy chasing its tail? That's what they looked like," said Harmon, the hatchery's assistant manager. As it turns out, the fishes' spines and skulls were being deformed by a deadly parasite called Myxobolus cerebralis. The microscopic species causes an infection known as "whirling disease" that has decimated trout populations in Colorado, Montana and other Western states.

Its thick green scales, glowing yellow eyes and menacing toothy grin were designed to intimidate the waterfowl. But, so far, this phony alligator head, bobbing on the calm waters of Westminster Community Pond, has not scared a single creature. The ploy doesn't even fool the children who play in the surrounding park and feed the ever-increasing number of fowl. "He is not scary, and he is fake," said Ryan Black, 4, visiting the park with his grandmother. "I don't see him swimming." In an effort to control the proliferating population of Canada geese and domestic ducks, Carroll County spent $150 for a pair of plastic alligators and dropped one in the 1-acre pond, a few hundred yards from the noise and traffic on Route 140. The other plastic gator is in reserve, waiting for a possible assignment.

Thirty-four days have passed without significant rain across Maryland, and the deepening drought is now threatening winter grain crops, parching creeks and pastures, and constricting some community water supplies. Stream flows are dipping to record lows, and the wildfire danger remains high just as the hunting season gets under way. Even the state's fish need rain. Low spring flows have forced the state's biggest hatcheries to stop feeding their rainbow trout, and that could mean smaller trout for anglers next spring.